Today marks Tisha B'Av, a date noteworthy in Jewish history as it was this very day that both Temples were destroyed in Jerusalem, the first by the Babylonians in 586 B.C., the second by the Romans in 70 A.D. Two millennia later and it appears we'll be able to attach another tragedy to this date, the forced removal of all Jews from Gaza, set to commence this week.

This small piece of land has always been barren and squalid until 1967 when after the Arabs failed in yet another imperialist attempt to destroy the Jewish state, Israel took it over. Since then 8,000 brave pioneers have resided in a portion of Gaza. They settled in on infertile beach sand and were told by everyone that nothing had ever grown there and nothing ever would. Instead, what they accomplished was an agricultural miracle. Utilizing advanced technology which they invented, they made the sand blossom and built greenhouses that produce chemical-free bug-free organic produce that is shipped around the world and renown for its incredible quality and taste.

Now if a Muslim country had taken over this land they would have expelled all the 'infidels'. But the Jewish settlers came with garlands of peace, hope and opportunity. The greenhouses they built employ Palestinians at wages far higher than they would make under any Arab dictatorship, and have forged true bonds of harmony and friendship:

Saed, a 42-year-old greenhouse worker who commutes every day from Khan Yunis, said, "For me, it's a really good life. I make enough money to feed my family. I am close with my bosses, who treat me with respect. I don't want to be out of a job." Fhaud, 63, a greenhouse supervisor, said he has grown attached to his Jewish employers. "I've known my boss since he was a kid and I worked for his father," he said. "Some workers here have known three generations of Jewish families. I was invited to all the bar mitzvahs and weddings." Mahmoud, who works in the same greenhouse, said, "I don't want the disengagement to go through. Not just because I'll lose a job, but because I'll lose friends."

So Jews and Arabs working together, turning the desert green. In a sane world we would be commending these Jewish settlers for sowing real seeds of peace. Of course, this is not a sane world, for next week all this has to be dismantled and turned over to Islamic terrorists in the name of 'peace'. For the first time in world history a country is going to forcibly remove its own people and give land over to its sworn enemies.

So now that the poor Palestinians of Gaza are to be freed from their 'occupation', are they rejoicing in their independence and making plans to plow their energies into building communities and farms and schools and infrastructure? Are they preparing to serve as a model to the world that a country under Islamic law with a fresh start and no colonial 'imperialists' can succeed? Are they ready to turn their state into a free and prosperous Palestinian country?

At a mass rally in Gaza City last Thursday, some 10,000 Palestinians danced, sang, and chanted, "Today Gaza, tomorrow Jerusalem." Jamal Abu Samhadaneh, commander of Gaza's Popular Resistance Committees, announced on Sunday, "We will move our cells to the West Bank" and warned that "The withdrawal will not be complete without the West Bank and Jerusalem." The Palestinian Authority's Ahmed Qurei also asserts, "Our march will stop only in Jerusalem." Meanwhile Hamas has officially announced that they will continue its war to destroy Israel by launching Qassam rockets at Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and communities in Judea and Samaria. We're sure they'll be making full use of their new seaport to import weapons and munitions to keep the carnage coming.

What's becoming clear is how the religion of Islam is addicted to war and mayhem. Not a radical minority, not a rogue sect, but its very essence is about submission and sacrifice and proving your worth by worshipping death in this life to gain a paradise of orgies and drunkenness. Their entire history is of warfare, and any accomplishments of their so-called Golden Age has been proven to be merely parasitic off the cultures they've conquered and reduced to dhimmi servitude. That every country under sharia is corrupt, belligerent, desolate and barbaric obviously gives them no pause, except to constantly drive them into further psychotic rage as they refuse to ever accept any responsibility for their conditions. They are akin to the powers in Orwell's 1984; there must always be an enemy. It's no surprise that women are treated like property in these countries as that's the only way Muslim men can feed their egos, to dominate others rather than ever actually produce something.

What a victory for these people that their terrorism has paid off, with Western intellectuals cheering them on. You can only wonder how many youth who have been brainwashed from birth in the madrassas and draped in their culture of bomb-worship and martyrdom will join the global jihad as it now appears they actually have a chance to win. While our soldiers at Guantanamo have to wear rubber gloves when handing out Korans, it's pretty reasonable for them to conclude that the West is ready to fall and the global caliphate is a real possibility. Israel's retreat from Gaza will certainly do wonders for their recruiting.

We can only presume how the leftist media establishment will cover this sorry affair, so we're making available the Gush Katif section of our recent film Entering Zion available for free download. You can get a last look at the communities and greenhouses before they are destroyed. At least we were able to record them for posterity.

We'd like to offer congratulations to all the liberal, progressive humanitarian women's rights environmentalist anti-war protesters who have made ending the 'occupation' of Gaza a top priority. What was an oasis of life is now to become a zone of death. You should be proud.

***

Speaking of those humanitarians, we have two new PW videos showing what an unprogressive attitude they have towards dissent.

Operation Enemy Enlightenment was a little street rumble with some protesters, culminating in one of them admitting his desire for Communism to rise again. And over in Amsterdam, Dutch-PW protested an anti-Bush rally with the predictable results of having their signs ripped down. We're sure the EU will be prosecuting the protesters for hate crimes.

We'd also like to call your attention to a counter-protest to ANSWER's mass rally this September 24th in Washington D.C. Aptly titled Operation Defend the White House, PW will be there with other groups to counter the radical mob that is showing up demanding the President's removal from office. For details go to www.defendthewhitehouse.org.

The way things are going in the Middle East, we may soon have to accept the reality that the global alliance of Islamic Jihad and the Socialist Left will not allow freedom to be vindicated. With Iran and North Korea building nuclear bomb factories, China on its way to becoming a military superpower, and Russia falling back towards authoritarianism, a weak and depleted United States will only be a recipe for these states to wage global war. The time is upon us to break out the Sun Tzu and bring the troops home. We've removed the WMD threat of their megalomaniac tyrant and given the people of Iraq control of their own destiny. It's now up to them if they want to be free or be another Islamic slave state.

It could have gone differently, but that wouldn't have been good for the peace protesters, for with all the coming war they're helping to bring about by providing intellectual cover to Islam and weakening us from the inside, they'll have plenty of opportunities to engage in their love of politics and protesting. True peace and liberty would be a disaster for these people, they would have nothing to rally against and would lose their justification for being. That may be the silver lining of the past two years, in that at least those with open eyes can see the true nature of evil, the pathological and inexhaustible efforts those who hate the good will go to destroy any standards of objective morality. At this point we can only sit back and watch with detached horror at what they have wrought, and what is to come...